Where does exhaustion fit into the plan?

The last week has been super hard from top to bottom.  Honestly, I have been in zombie mode since before Halloween and I'm just hoping we all make it through to the weekend relatively unscathed. 

First, I still haven't recovered from my husband's business trip last week.  Why yes, he was in Japan--why do you ask?  Travel is a regular part of his job, but it's usually spaced out pretty evenly.  This month, not so much.  In fact this was his third major trip of the month.  Usually I can handle it, but he was either gone or preparing to be gone for the entire month.  So, not a lot of help in the parenting department.  I know we should be thankful that he has a good job and blah, blah, blah, but this week I just felt resentful.  Perhaps it was the four hours of sleep I was averaging each night...

As I wrote last week, I was also super stressed about the Halloween costume situation for the daughters.  I had tried to talk myself into giving myself a break and just buying costumes (seriously, I know this is COMPLETELY my issue and that it is lame).  I even went so far as to clean up my sewing room.  But every time I walked by I just felt guilty.  So after one night of zoning out on the couch I unpacked everything and got back to work.  Every night as soon as the girls were in bed I would madly sew and bead and curse myself for letting Diva-girl choose to be Princess Jasmine with all those frickin' sequins on the costume!

But there's a happy ending: All the costumes were finished in time and the girls looked great--especially Jasmine!  But--alas--I did not have a costume for Halloween, so I've blown my chance for 100% Plan success.  I did wear an orange tie-dyed pumpkin shirt that looked surprisingly like a shirt I saw in Harper's Bazaar.  Except, of course, that mine was painted like pumpkins...  Still, not a costume.

Anyway, ever since I think the entire family has been out-of-sorts and exhausted ever since.  Last week we passed around fevers and I've been hearing a lot of sniffle-snuffling lately so I have an idea of what's coming next...  I'm marking time in baby steps this week.

Running has definitely been the high point of the last few weeks.  I know I'm still running little baby intervals and it's hard to see how running 3 minutes at a time is going to get me to a half-marathon, but I'm seeing progress.  I track all my runs with CardioTrainer and each run is just a little bit longer, just a little bit faster.  On Tuesday the coach caught up with us on the trail and was very surprised (in a good way) by our pace.  Well, first she chided us for not "walking like we mean it" on the walk intervals, but then had to concede that we made up for it on the run intervals.

I also went today and got fitted for new running shoes and I have to say that I'm skeptical.  I know that I tend to wear my shoes too small and too tight, but my new shoes are a size 8--two sizes bigger than my last shoes!!  I went to a real running store and got a real fitting and they explained that, especially with longer runs your feet swell and spread in all directions, so you need to have room for that.  Which makes sense, but my feet are now feeling like little guppies in the wide, wide ocean.  Very comfortable, cool little guppies, but guppies nonetheless.

My one concern on the running front is the return of the dreaded shin splints.  From everything that I'm reading, it seems that the number one recommendation is rest.  But to me, rest seems the same as quitting.  So I'm going to be extra conscious of where I run (no concrete), take more ibuprofen and try icing.  At this point it's not too bad once I actually get moving, but the ache is pretty constant throughout the day.  So if anyone has any suggestions that do not involve taking a break, I'd love to hear them!

Getting started

This week was the kick off of my running training program and so far, I am surprisingly in love with it.  Not to say that it's easy--it's not--but I'm loving the effort, loving that I am pushing myself, loving that I am not quitting!

Here's your visual for this week:  Sweaty, overweight, red-faced woman huffing and puffing down the street with a dorky grin plastered on her face.

Each Sunday our trainer emails us the schedule.  Tuesday and Thursday are group training runs; Saturday we have monthly group seminars and weekly long runs with the group; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we cross train on our own; and Sunday is rest day.  I'll post my weekly schedule along with brief notes on the "Running" tab here.

I really had to psych myself up just to show up for the first group training on Tuesday.  I get super stressed in new situations and in groups I tend to be the one standing against the wall.  Plus I had no idea where to meet, what to bring, if I was wearing the right thing...  Which I definitely wasn't, because did I mention the massive thunderstorm that was currently under way?

But Coach said rain or shine, so there I was along with about two dozen other women getting completely drenched.  (There are quite a few men in the group too, but most only come to the Saturday meetings.)

First thing, Coach says, "We've got to get you out of cotton."

I know, I know...  But the running clothes I ordered hadn't arrived yet so I looked like a drowned rat before we even started.

For the run I was paired up with the other run/walkers and a mentor for our intervals: three minutes running at a "conversational" pace alternating with two minutes walking.  Here's the thing about that:  I do not have a conversational pace.  I have a "gasping for air" pace.  Also a "when the hell is this effing interval going to end already" pace, along with a "please let me be struck by the next bolt of lightning" pace.  So it was a good thing that our mentor was chatty.

Nevertheless, I kept going.  See how handy a competitive streak can be?  There was no way I was going to be the first to cry uncle.  But by the end I felt liberated.  Well, mostly exhausted and completely drenched, but liberated too.  For so many years I have been holding on to the belief that I CAN'T run.  I guess I'll have to rethink that...

The next two meetings I switched to a 4/1 run/walk pace.  On Thursday my eyes were practically glued to my stopwatch on each interval and I had to mentally coach myself the whole way (just to the next tree, just to the stop sign, just twenty more seconds...).  But on Saturday my buddy was doing the timing and I really didn't think about how long I was running.  I didn't have that "please let this interval end now" desperation that I did on the previous runs. 

Plus we got to run on the trails and my buddy was pretty cool--she's actually completed triathlons!--so it was a fun day.

So bring it on, Week 2.  I can't wait to see what my body can do this week!

C25K: Still Moving!

I've started the Couch-to-5K program several many times in the past.  It always starts out great--"What, I only have to run for one minute, then I get to walk?"--but, as pathetic as it sounds, I've never completed week two. 

Today marks the end of that era.

I can't even begin to describe how proud I'm feeling of myself!  Despite a history of fizzling out, I am definitely not fizzled!  In fact, I even went out and did today's run despite an extremely painful shoulder. I thought I slept on it wrong, but it's getting worse and worse.  It's so bad I'm having trouble taking my clothes off--hey, maybe I should enlist hubby's help!  Then I could count the win for item 16!

So despite all the self-talk telling me it was okay to skip out since I was INJURED!!!  I just went out and did it.  I told myself before hand that if it was too painful to run I could walk.  So glad I did--it turned out that as far as my shoulder's concerned it's much less painful to run than to walk.  End result: Week 2/Day 3 of Couch-to-5K is history!!!

Now on to Week 3.  It's definitely going to be a challenge, but I've proven I'm stronger than I give myself credit for.  I'll be there, and I'll see you all in Week 4!

Mutants: Out. C25K: In.

Things are still moving along on "Plan."  Well, except for the book thing.  I finally gave up on Go, Mutants!  I realized that I was actually scowling at the book and planning elaborate ways of destroying it every time I saw it on the nightstand.  Fortunately for it, it's from the library, so I couldn't go much beyond the dirty looks without risking a heavy fine.  Unfortunately for me, I still haven't returned it to the library, so it's currently racking up $0.25 per day.  Stupid book.  Remind me to never again check out a book with a fifties-style space alien on the cover.  The library will probably be able to build a new wing once I finally get the book turned in and pay the fine.  This is the reason I should stick to bookstores!!

I did start a new book, an autobiography, yesterday that I think I will enjoy called Born Round by Frank Bruni, the former NY Times restaurant critic.  I've only read the first few chapters so far, but it's fascinating to read about his struggle with food and his weight that started in childhood.  Although I'm sure the obsession comes from a different place, but as the mother of a food-obsessed seven-year-old it's very enlightening to hear it from a different perspective.

And, I've started work on another goal: running a 5K!  Yesterday I started doing the Couch to 5K program from Cool Runnings.  Basically, it's a two-month training program designed transform couch potato into runner.  Perfect!  So day one was a five minute warm up walk followed by eight 60 second run/90 second walk intervals.  I actually felt amazing!  I've been walking around the lake a couple times a week, so I just started with the C25K program, then continued with my walk around the lake once the intervals were done.  I'm planning on running Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Cool thing--the walk from my house around the lake is 3.3 miles.  A 5K is 3.11 miles, so once I can run all the way around the lake, I'll know I'm ready for a 5K.  I was thinking maybe a Turkey Day Trot would be fun, but we're not sure where we'll be on Thanksgiving yet.  If we stay home, I'll probably shoot for Dana Point.